Kiran Upadhyay

I was helping my friend install  iTunes on his Windows machine when I noticed a folder called “ Automatically Add To iTunes ” inside the “ iTunes Music ” folder. I never knew that such a folder existed and after a meticulous search, found out that there’s a similar folder in my Mac buried among hundreds of other artists folders. As the name suggests, the folder is the dropbox where you can throw any kind of (compatible) multimedia file to be automatically added to iTunes (and later on synchronized to iPod/iPhone/iPad). I wondered why Apple put such a useful function so deep inside, that many iTunes users (at least the ones that I know) don’t even know it exists. And speaking of dropbox, my imagination has already run wild with the possibilities of being able to remotely and automatically add songs to iTunes. Add Songs to Itunes With Drop Box The small 2GB USB thumb drive chained to my keys has been my faithful companion for so long. On many occasions, it’s my only tool for f...

Batch files are the computer handyman’s way of getting things done. They can automate everyday tasks, shorten the required time to do something, and translate a complex process into something anyone could operate. Since automation programs like AutoHotKey exist, many people have never written or taken the time to understand bat files, and many don’t even know what they do. In this article, I’m going to show you how to write a simple batch file and present some basics that a user will need to understand when writing one. I’ll also provide you with a few resources for learning to write batch (.bat) files in case you’d like to go further. Let’s say that you frequently have network issues; you’re constantly getting on the command prompt and typing in things like “ ipconfig ” and pinging Google to see what the problem is. After a while you realize that it would be a bit more efficient if you just wrote a simple BAT file, stuck it on your USB stick, and used it on the machines you trou...

At a recent book reading at SXSW I spoke briefly about a new chapter in the new ProBlogger book (due out next month) that is a case study of my main blog (4-5 bigger than ProBlogger) – Digital Photography School . dPS is now just a few days away from being 4 years old and so with the new edition of the book Chris and I thought it might be a good idea to include a new chapter that examined how I’ve developed the blog so far. The case study looks at 4 main aspects: how I launched the blog – the four foundations that I build in years 1-2 how I built upon the foundations – what I focused upon in years 3-4 how I monetize the blog the way I use email to drive traffic to and monetize the blog In this post I want to talk briefly about the four foundations that I focused upon in years 1-2 of building my photography site . I won’t go into great detail about each one here (if you want more the book is your best bet) but as my reading was interrupted by a fire alarm at SXSW I wanted to co...

Don’t be jealous of your friends with Windows 7. Don’t run out and buy a new operating system or computer just so you can have the look and feel of Windows 7. Maybe you like the orb, the toolbar, tray icons or the quick launch buttons? Well guess what, you can have them on your XP computer FOR FREE! There are a few different themes and visual styles that you can grab. We found the best one and we will show you what you get and how to install it. It is not as easy as you would think. The theme itself is a user on DeviantArt. This user has many great themes but today we will be looking at his Windows 7 transformation pack for Windows XP. You can grab the download the Windows 7 themes for Windows XP here . We will also grab the Super Bar files from this link . I found the theme and instructions from TechBliss Online . They have also provided a video I will share with you at the end of the post. Inside the archive you will find four folders. We will really only be using the Visual ...

Have you ever tried to email an .exe file? Most mail servers provide anti-virus protection. This means they scan file attachments of emails you send and receive. Some providers even go as far as to block a number of file extensions per default. Gmail for example won’t let you send .exe files, even if they are archived in a .zip, .tar, .tgz, .taz, .z, or .gz file. Messages sent to you containing an .exe file will be bounced back to the sender. So do you unblock attachments to send or receive .exe files nevertheless? There are several simple tricks. Please note however, that some of them may violate the Terms Of Service of your email provider. Violating the TOS may result in your email account being locked or closed. 1. Upload The File to A File Hosting Service A perfectly legal alternative to sending an .exe file is to upload the file to a file host and email the URL to the intended recipient. We have previously covered several file hosting services on MakeUseOf. For some of them...

I remember the very first reason why I started using Firefox which was its “tabbing” feature (it was long ago and Internet Explorer didn’t have tabs then). It seemed so handy that I was amazed. Now I still use Firefox (even though all other browsers have tabs now) and I am still pretty excited at the ability to open links in new tabs. Sometimes I have dozens of them opened and this is when it stops being handy (and usable). Luckily Firefox is awesome and there are plenty of addons that make it even more awesome, so this post lists 7 most useful (for me) ways to get productive with Firefox tabs. 1. “Tabbing” Shortcuts The best way to navigate through your open tabs is to learn related Firefox shortcuts. I am listing them below in a somewhat easier-to-digest way: The Shortcut The Action Ctrl + 1 Select the leftmost tab Ctrl + 2-8 Select each of the tabs in order from left to right Ctrl + 9 Select the rightmost tab Ctrl + F4 Close active tab Ctrl + T Open new t...

While Picasa Web Albums and Flickr are incredibly popular free online photo-storage/sharing services for photos and other files among readers, the limitations of these services’ free accounts might (sooner or later) push you to either upgrade or search for alternative solutions so you won’t have to delete your data. For example, Picasa does integrate well with other Google services, but that also means that all the pictures you upload to Blogger and (the new social messaging tool) Buzz , in addition to Picasa, count toward the 1GB Picasa Web storage limit . As for Flickr, you’re probably already aware that you can only see 200 pictures of your non-pro Flickr collection. The upgrade prices for extra online storage for photos in Google and Flickr, ( $25/year for unlimited storage ), aren’t too bad, but as your stream of photos grows every year, so will your premium-account costs. You could get a great deal in photo storage (basically 25GB for $0) in Windows Live Photos thanks...